GROWING UP IN A Catholic Por-
tuguese family in California, Manny
Medeiros says that helping people was
“what you did.” For Medeiros, that has
meant a successful legal career combining
Buddhist values and his lifelong commit-
ment to civil rights and social change.
Medeiros was the first in his family to
go to college. While studying law at the
University of California, Davis, he found
the Davis Shambhala Meditation Center,
where he became a student of Chögyam
Trungpa Rinpoche and then Sakyong
Mipham Rinpoche.
His legal career was guided by his
desire to help the poor and underrepre-
sented. He worked in legal aid, defended
farm workers being evicted for exercising
their union organizing rights, advocated
for sentencing reform, and fought to pro-
tect Native American gravesites and cer-
emonial grounds. In 2002, he
was appointed as California’s
Solicitor General, where he
developed litigation strategy
to promote marriage equality.
“I have found that Bud-
dhism and civil rights work
inform each other,” says
Medeiros. “I wanted to have
some ‘on-the-ground’ experi-
ence of how the basic good-
ness we talk about in Bud-
dhism actually plays out in
the real world. My civil rights
work has really informed my
understanding of the breadth
and vastness of the possibility
of basic goodness in human-
ity, and vice versa.”
Medeiros retired in 2012
but continues to work in the
field of restorative justice. That year,
Sakyong Mipham appointed him a shas-
tri (senior teacher) in the Shambhala
community.
Medeiros says his greatest lesson has
been to meet people where they are. “I
remember how once I had this inspi-
ration that I was going to organize a
tenants’ organization around this low-
income housing agency. I was talking
about taking control and how to make
things better, and what they really wanted
was a pool table in the rec room.”
Medeiros says that opened his eyes. “In
the Shambhala teachings, we talk about
joining heaven and earth. There are these
vast ideas and idealisms, and then you’re
confronted with reality. It’s deepened my
understanding of how people are in the real
world, and how idealism needs to be joined
with the practicality of the real world.” ♦
BODHISATTVAS
Idealism for the Real World
Former California solicitor-general MANNY MEDEIROS
finds that civil rights work and Buddhism go well together.
SARAHMEDEIROSELLIOT
Tell us about a bodhisattva you know at themoment@lionsroar.com
#THEDHARMA
@FullContactTMcG
I like to think that the Buddha
looked at Mara right in the eyes,
unblinking and said “What’s good
Mara? What’s good?”
@lamawilla
Meditation is the
art of learning to
radically tolerate
yourself.
@russbengtson
Trying to imagine what would
have happened in Kentucky if a
Buddhist clerk refused to issue
hunting licenses.
@elleryprescott
Compassion
and love for
#KimDavis.
Can we expand
our hearts big
enough?
@ethannichtern
Overheard in Brooklyn (describing
his vacation): “it was mindless...
and very zen.” #NotWhatItMeans
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SHAMBHALA SUN JANUARY 2016 17
CULTURE • LIFE • PRACTICE